Smoking rates amongst high school students were cut in half in only five years, between 2011 to 2016.

The data which was released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday the 16th of June, clearly indicates that smoking rates amongst high school students were cut in half in only five years, between 2011 to 2016. Most importantly during this same time, vaping amongst the same age group increased from 1.5% to a peak of 16.0% in 2015. But this is not all!

Additionally, the percentage of high school students using e-cigarettes has also dropped. For the first time since the advent of electronic cigarettes, vaping decreased from 16.0% in 2015 to 11.3% in 2016, while smoking in that same period dropped from 9.3% to 8.0%.

An unprecedented decline in smoking

“This is great news because it reveals that smoking is truly becoming unpopular among youth. The rate of decline in youth smoking is unprecedented. This despite the rapid rise in e-cigarette experimentation. These data are simply not consistent with the hypothesis that vaping is going to re-normalize smoking and that e-cigarettes are a gateway to youth smoking.” said public health expert Dr. Michael Siegel on his blog.

“This is great news because it reveals that smoking is truly becoming unpopular among youth. The rate of decline in youth smoking is unprecedented. This despite the rapid rise in e-cigarette experimentation. These data are simply not consistent with the hypothesis that vaping is going to re-normalize smoking and that e-cigarettes are a gateway to youth smoking.” Dr. Michael Siegel

He added that the drop in e-cigarette use is “reassuring”, as it indicates that as another recent study has suggested, the products are not as addictive as cigarettes, and that claims saying that the products are hooking a new generation of young adults on Nicotine are unsubstantiated.

I believe kids are attracted to the visible part of smoking or vaping. “It’s the clouds bro’.” Kids see cloud toys, not electronic cigarettes. With or without nicotine it’s easier to stop vaping than smoking when their curiosity is satisfied. We know nicotine is not so addictive. Otherwise the gum and patches wouldn’t be available over the counter for the last 20 years. The people who say we don’t know enough mean to say the only thing worth knowing is some justification to ban ecigs because their funding depends on tobacco money. People with that conflict of interest know who they are and dominate the conversation. They need to shut up and butt out.